3 3 Siren en Song of Lebanon anon Solomon & Delilah: - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

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Siren en Song of Lebanon anon

Th The Kin e King Who Fel g Who Fell l

Solomon the King Lebanese Bride 4:8; 4:11,15; 7:4 1:1,5; 3:7,9,11; 8:11,12

Solomon & Delilah: Characters

Heb literally “THE King” Bloch, p120

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• He is Israel’s spiritual leader
• She does not know Israel’s God
• Their mutual love is genuine
• He becomes infatuated with her

 He ‘changes nationality’  His leadership role transfers to her

• No mention of God (his responsibility)

 She becomes deadly (his fault) Dynamics with Support Characters

• Daughters of Jerusalem resent her (she takes their place)
• Watchmen of Jerusalem try to eliminate her

Plot Summary

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Modern commentators believe the couple are unmarried because of their separate domiciles; i.e. grooms don’t live apart from brides e.g. Gledhill p39; Murphy p263 Solomon brought Pharaoh’s daughter up from the City of David to the palace he had built for her, for he said, “My wife must not live in the palace of David king of Israel, because the places the ark of the Lord has entered are holy.” 2 Chr 8:11

King & the Bride are Married

Except for Solomon!

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Solomon’s Spiritual Collapse

King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women besides Pharaoh’s daughter—Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians and Hittites. They were from nations about which the LORD had told the Israelites, “You must not intermarry with them, because they will surely turn your hearts after their gods.” Nevertheless, Solomon held fast to them in love. He had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines, and his wives led him

• astray. As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart

after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the LORD his God, as the heart of David his father had been. He followed Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and Molech the detestable god of the Ammonites. So Solomon did evil in the eyes of the LORD; he did not follow the LORD completely, as David his father had done. 1 Kgs 11:1-6

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Chronology

“Sixty queens there may be, and eighty concubines, and virgins beyond number; but my dove, my perfect one, is unique…” 6:8-9  860 partners still to come Dt 17:17  This relationship doesn’t last!  Chronology during Solomon’s reign

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Chiasmus

F F F F Bb Bb Bb Bb B B B B M M M M

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She leads him

7:11; 8:14

He leads her

2:10; 2:13; 4:8 Tower

• f David

4:4 Tower of Lebanon” 7:4 Call from him away from Lebanon Call from her away from Jerusalem 4:1-7 7:1-9

5:1 Chiasmus

Mtns of Bether 2:17 Mtns of spices 8:14 4:8 8:14

“I have come into my garden, my sister, my bride; I have gathered my myrrh with my spice.”

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But the lead transfers:

“Come into…” 4:16 “Come…” 7:11 “Come away…” 8:14 Initially he leads: “Come with me…” 2:10 & 2:13 & 4:8

5:1 Transfer of Leadership

BEFORE AFTER “I have come into my garden, my sister, my bride; I have gathered my myrrh with my spice.” 5:1

Call away from Lebanon Call away from Jerusalem

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5:1 The Mountains

Mtns of Bether 2:17 Mtns of spices 8:14

“I have come into my garden, my sister, my bride; I have gathered my myrrh with my spice.” 5:1

Judah Pleasures

BEFORE AFTER

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“For the time will come when you will say, ‘Blessed are the barren women, the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!’ Then they will say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us!’ and to the hills, ‘Cover us!’” Lk 23:29-30 “Endow the king with your justice, O God, the royal son with your righteousness. He will judge your people in righteousness, your afflicted ones with justice. The mountains will bring prosperity to the people, the hills the fruit of righteousness.” Psa 72:1-3 “But the rock that struck the statue became a huge mountain and filled the whole earth.” Dan 2:35

Aside: Mountain is a Biblical symbol for a ruling power

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5:1 The Mountains

Mtns of Bether 2:17 Mtns of spices 8:14

“I have come into my garden, my sister, my bride; I have gathered my myrrh with my spice.” 5:1

Judah Pleasures

BEFORE AFTER

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4:1-7 7:1-9 Elegant revelation of their consummation Clever depiction of the transfer of power

5:1

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The Sequential Poems (wasfs)

BEFORE AFTER

“His appearance is like Lebanon, choice as its cedars.” 5:15 “Your neck is like the tower of David, built with elegance” 4:4 “Your nose is like the tower of Lebanon looking toward Damascus.” 7:4 Solomon to the Bride: Solomon to the Bride: Bride to Solomon:

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5:1 Spiritual Immigration ISRAEL LEBANON

BEFORE AFTER

Solomon: “Your hair is like royal tapestry; the king is held captive by its tresses.” 7:5

Entranced, Entangled

The King describes himself as a captive, mesmerized Bride: “While the king was at his table, my perfume spread its fragrance.” 1:12

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“Your eyes are the pools of Heshbon by the gate of Bath Rabbim.” 7:4 Bride: “Place me like a seal over your heart, like a seal on your arm” 8:6

She Holds Power

Owner seals owned => She owns him Heshbon is in Moab Beth Rabbim = ‘House of Rabbis’ “[angels] put a seal on the foreheads

• f the servants of our God.” Rev 7:3

He is taking leadership from her beautiful (foreign) eyes

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Then out came a woman to meet him, dressed like a prostitute and with crafty intent. (She is unruly and defiant, her feet never stay at home; now in the street, now in the squares, at every corner she lurks)… I have covered my bed with colored linens from Egypt. I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes and cinnamon. Come, let’s drink deeply of love till morning; let’s enjoy ourselves with love! My husband is not at home; he has gone on a long journey. Prov 7:10-12,16-19

Proverbs 7 The Bride

“All night long on my bed I looked for the

• ne my heart loves; I

looked for him but did not find him. I will get up now and go about the city, through its streets and squares…” 3:1-2

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“I liken you, my darling, to a mare among Pharaoh’s chariot

• horses. ” 1:9

The Bride

Then out came a woman to meet him, dressed like a prostitute and with crafty intent. (She is unruly and defiant, her feet never stay at home; now in the street, now in the squares, at every corner she lurks)… I have covered my bed with colored linens from Egypt. I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes and cinnamon. Come, let’s drink deeply of love till morning; let’s enjoy ourselves with love! My husband is not at home; he has gone on a long journey. Prov 7:10-12,16-19

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Proverbs 7

“And our bed is verdant. ...My beloved has gone down to his garden, to the beds of spices, to browse in the gardens” 1:16, 6:2 “henna… nard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon… with myrrh and aloes.” 4:13-14

The Bride

Then out came a woman to meet him, dressed like a prostitute and with crafty intent. (She is unruly and defiant, her feet never stay at home; now in the street, now in the squares, at every corner she lurks)… I have covered my bed with colored linens from Egypt. I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes and cinnamon. Come, let’s drink deeply of love till morning; let’s enjoy ourselves with love! My husband is not at home; he has gone on a long journey. Prov 7:10-12,16-19

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Proverbs 7

“Until the day breaks and the shadows flee, I will go to the mountain of myrrh and to the hill of incense” 4:6

The Bride

Then out came a woman to meet him, dressed like a prostitute and with crafty intent. (She is unruly and defiant, her feet never stay at home; now in the street, now in the squares, at every corner she lurks)… I have covered my bed with colored linens from Egypt. I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes and cinnamon. Come, let’s drink deeply of love till morning; let’s enjoy ourselves with love! My husband is not at home; he has gone on a long journey. Prov 7:10-12,16-19

Proverbs 7

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Beloved “Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth— for your love is more delightful than wine.” 1:2 Friends “We rejoice and delight in you; we will praise your love more than wine.” 1:4 Lover “How delightful is your love, my sister, my bride! How much more pleasing is your love than wine” 4:10

Love More than Wine

Love > Life. A deadly love

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“for love is as strong as death, its jealousy unyielding as the grave.” 8:6 Repeated emphasis that the love will be deadly

Love More than Life

Terrors in the Night

“Look! It is Solomon’s carriage, escorted by sixty warriors… prepared for the terrors of the night.” 3:7-8 Spiritually, the “terrors of the night” were never outside Solomon’s own bed “Sixty queens there may be…” 6:8

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• Love can be intense enough

to replace God if faith is weak

• Even love which is pure & feels right

can be fatal if it displaces God We’re deceiving ourselves if we think we always value the quest for truth more than celebration of pleasure How could love ever cost me my faith? If I believe “truth,” won’t truth beat error?

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Lilies ies, Myrrh rrh & Doves es

Th The Kin e King Who Fel g Who Fell l

Different Nationality, Different God

“I liken you, my darling, to a mare harnessed to one of the chariots of Pharaoh” 1:9 Egypt: a spiritually ominous comparison The relevance of the different nationality is solely the consequence of a different God “Dark am I, yet lovely, O daughters of Jerusalem” 1:5 “If only you were to me like a brother… Then… I would kiss you, and no one would despise me” 8:1

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